Monday, June 30, 2008

Brought Ace to KP's house the other day to visit baby Josiah.. unfortunately, the baby was sleeping and so me and the girls had to rack our brains about how to keep Ace busy...

KP took out her colouring pencils, her story books and still din manage to pacify Ace.. and then Ace wanted to play with my phone and just to pacify him, we let him take pictures of us with my phone.. I must say his skills have improved ;)

Anyway, he finally became satisfied and contented and happy when KP and Joe took out their PSP.. he was so fascinated he would just be happy watching them play and pressing random buttons just to see them move..

I discovered that Ace really likes babies... when Josiah woke up, he was really quite fascinated..

A few days later, I brought him to visit his baby cousin who is about a month old. The baby happened to be awake and the moment saw the baby, he just ran towards him with lots of passion, hugged him close and tried to kiss him!

Meixuan my cousin says that when Ace gets older, he will start to ask for a baby sister or a brother...

Recently, Ace is starting to tell me that my tummy has a baby... But alas he told me in the midst of my da yi ma.. so maybe it is a sign that my baby is coming soon... hehehe ;) Now, he is consistently telling me that he wants a younger sister when I ask him about it... Let's pray baby will come and it is a girl...

Sunday, June 29, 2008

As Ace grows up and understand more about life, there are more and more things I have to explain to him.. and sometimes, I really need to crack my head so that I think I will give him a fair explanation...

The other day, I was talking to Jez whose eldest daughter is already 10. She said that one day when her daughter was watching TV with her husband, the movie referred to a woman as a 'ji' (chicken) and so her daughter asked her father, "Daddy, how come the man call this woman a chicken?"

Not knowing how to answer, the Dad replied, "Go ask your mother..."

Jez, not knowing what or how to say it told her, "Ask me at the end of the day, give me some time to think of how to explain to you..."

And after a long hard thought, she told her daughter that Chickens are women who earn money by selling their bodies. Chicken is just a phrase people call them. This occupation is called Prostitute. Sometimes some women want to earn money but do not want to work hard or dunno what they can do, they will sell their bodies in return for money and so they become prostitutes.

Then a few days later, she drove her daughter through Joo Chiat and told her, "See that lady in white shorts, that is a 'chicken'... see that lady in red vest?.."

At the end of the trip, her daughter told her, "I know already! If you wear very little clothes, you are a chicken!"

"No no no.. does not mean that if a person wear very little they will be a prostitute... some people think it is nice to wear very little. But for a prostitute, because they are selling their bodies, they have to show more of their body so that people can decide whether to buy or not.."

I was really impressed with Jez and wondered when I will ever come across a good challenge like tat since Ace is still so young...

Just the other day, my chance came when we brought Ace out for dinner. A very old man who is limping limped over and asked us for money.. cos he says he has some problems with his legs... etc... we did not give him money but promised to give him our empty can when we are done cos he was collecting... and the worst thing is that Ace kept staring at his leg.. even when he left, Ace just kept staring at his leg...

I thought very long and hard about how to explain this to Ace. I did not want him to think that we should not help people in need.. neither do I want him to think we should help EVERYONE in need... there is just too many reasoning behind why I dun give money to people who come and beg... but how to explain the very difficult concept of true giving vs sacrifice and compensation...

Very difficult to explain how when we help others out of sacrifice and compensation, we become unequal and think we are far more superior than them and that is not true love, true giving...

After thinking for about 2 minutes, I told Ace this, "Ace, that uncle is old and he came begging for money. In future, if you see people like that, just follow your heart. Remember, it is ok for you to help if you help out of your sincere heart... it is also ok if you do not want to help, there is nothing wrong with it... You see, everyone has a choice.. Uncle has a choice whether to ask you for money and you have a choice whether you give him. If you do not give uncle money to help him, you can probably send Uncle some love in your heart... your love might possibly help him more than the money you give him... just bless him.. ok?"

Saturday, June 28, 2008

I have been watching In The Night Garden with Ace for some time but I just never got to know the names of the characters because mostly I was not really paying attention to the show...

The other day, when I was very free, I went into their website to look at the names of the characters and then I realized they all had really silly names... like Pinky Pong, Upsie Daisy, Makka Pakka..

Wah lau, wat sort of names are those man.. who can remember them???

Then the next day, when I was watching with Ace, I asked him, "Who is this?"

"Makka Pakka!" and I almost fainted! He can even name those that I cannot name!

Wow.. I suddenly realize that when Ace watches TV, he is not just WATCHING it.. the input really goes in...

So now whenever I am watching TV with him.. whenever I see something which I feel is negative input like someone killing someone or hitting someone or giving up on themselves, I tell him that those people are naughty and go on to talk about how love can solve all problems, how he can go to gohonzon for help and how life is very precious and our lives are also about the people we love and people who love us too..

I think it is difficult for me not to watch TV and difficult to ask all my parents not to watch TV just because Ace is around.. so my next best option would be to give him some good principals and guidelines in life so that he will still have a great life no matter wat he sees, hears or experiences in his life :)

Friday, June 27, 2008

When you see Ace, pretty girls.. BEWARE! haha.. my very passionate son will run towards you and cheong towards you and attempt to hug and kiss you...

So far, he has frightened about three older girls with his overtly passionate behaviour to the point that they wanted to cry..

He is so passionate that just the other day, when we brought him to NTUC and we were waiting outside for Daddy to make payment, he saw the donation box in the shape of a little girl. Maybe it was because she is a pretty girl.. or maybe because she is in crutches... anyway, Ace put his arms around her and kept hugging 'her' and then even proceeded to KISS her!

And I think it is an inate ability within Ace to suss out physical beauty.. somehow he treats the Meinus differently... and when he is running around and sees a beautiful girl.. WHOOSH! He will suddenly change direction and change after her!

Yanni told me that her boys will stare at babes in bikini when she brings them to swimming pools.

Well, I predict this little guy will turn out to be quite a cassanova... maybe I should be like Arthur.. remind Ace tat only his parents will choose his wife for him?:P hahaha...

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Yes, Ace finally turns three and can tell people he is 'san sui' with pride ;)

Anyway, Ace is really a lucky boy.. his birthday is like some birthday extravaganza and we started the celebration almost a week earlier...He received many presents too!

His birthday celebration went like this:

Friday: Went to IKEA to play at smalleland and pick out his present, watched Kung Fu Panda at the cinema.

Saturday: Set up his new table and chair and visited Yeye and Nainai in the evening to see his birthday present- a shiny new red BMX bicycle!

Sunday: Had a birthday party at Popo's house and Ganma Karen and CK gor gor came too.Went out with net net and Ah Yee for one whole day and had ice cream. Went to IKEA again to pick out another present... a standee with white board and black board for him to draw stuff.

Monday: Went Yeye's house to celebrate at night with a durian party.

Wed: Ate mee sua in the afternoon, went to the airport for cake and after which we went to have dinner with Yeye and Nainai... Ace invited Yeye and Nainai to our house and they had more fun playing with his toys at home.

Monday, June 23, 2008

They are best of friends now so now whenever max goes to the hotmeal delivery, Lele will ask him, "Where is gor gor?"

And when Ace arrives there, he asks, "Where is lele?"

So cute right?:P Her eyes are like precious moments doll...

The other day, Lele was really sweet... she was playing with Ace the whole afternoon and then when we were about to go home and were sitting in the car, the grandma suddenly picked her up and walked over.. I thought Lele wanted to say goodbye again and asked Max to wait up for them...

"She said she pushed him just now when they were playing and did not say sorry.. so she wanted to say sorry to him..." And so she insisted that her grandma bring her to gor gor (Ace) to say sorry to Ace.

Wah.. what a nice gesture and what a sweet little girl! We really have lots to learn from her man... I think not many adults are capable of doing that!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Recently, Ace has started to enjoy playing the "I am Daddy" sort of imaginative game... now and then, he comes to me and tells me that HE is Daddy and he will point to Hello Kitty and say she is mummy (I am so flattered) and then to the little baby bear and say he is baby...

That tells me the start of his oedipus has arrived and so I have taken to constantly telling him that he is both Daddy and Mummy's boy and that we both love him.

Anyway, when that happens, I always ask him what does he want to do with his family.. and then he will start to sayang baby and this and that.. and usually he would want to bring baby out...

On this occasion, he decided to bring baby "Go swimming!".

And so he went onto the bed with the bear and started doing this...

That is exactly what his daddy does when daddy goes swimming with him!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Want to know wat sort of person you are? Want to know which areas of your life you can improve upon... Well, your child will be your BEST BEST BEST MIRROR! ;)

The other day I was talking to Ace and having a conversation about how something went wrong and I am upset about it (yes, Ace is my friend, not just my son...) and then he told me, "Bu yao jing lah..." (Nevermind lah..) And sometimes when we ask him to do something that he feels is not important, he tells me, "bu yao jing lah..."

And I kept thinking why my son is like that and how he learnt this.. until I caught myself saying this the other day! He is merely following my footsteps... Cos when he is uptight about something, I always tell him, "Bu yao jing lah..." And then explain things to him..

Even though we are aware that Ace is in the monkey see, monkey do stage, we were not aware of how thorough his mimicry is until the other day, two hilarious incidents happened..

As it is, Max really cannot tahan whiny children who cry for no reason... somehow, the sound of crying irritates him and my guess is that when our children cry, parents have this alarm in them tat goes off, "Beep beep beep beep.. bad parent! bad parent! lousy parent! lousy parent!" so somehow, that makes us feel really bad about ourselves and we get upset... especially if we cannot stop them from crying... Most if it happens within a second and happens unconsciously and I think most parents are not even aware that this is going on psychologically in their head.

The other day, Ace was crying really badly for some reason like he can't get something that he wanted.. so Max told him, "No more crying... I am angry already... " And Ace kept crying...

So max ignored him and walked away to let him cry...

So later in the afternoon... Ace was playing with his Daddy and accidentally hit his Daddy.. so Daddy pretended to be in pain and started to 'cry', "Ohhh.. pain pain..."

And then Ace told him, "No! Wo sheng qi ah!" (I am going to get angry) and then he folded his arms and pursed his lips in the typical 'angry face' that he always shows when he is playing the angry game..

And then we were both shocked and looked at each other.

And then Ace told his Daddy, "Wo sheng qi! Humph!" And he walked away into the bedroom... and then he peeped his head out to see whether his Daddy is still crying.. Daddy was still stunned in the same position and Ace told him, "No ah, wo sheng qi... bu yao cai ni le.." (No, I am angry, I am going to ignore you)

And then I laughed out loud... Hilarious I tell you! I told Max that this must be our retribution... hahaha...

Then over the weekend, we invited Stanley and Clari over to our house for sort of a house warming party... Clari came over and played with Ace... and then Ace accidentally hit her and she pretended to cry....

"Humph... wo sheng qi ah!" and he crossed his arms, pursed his lips and did an angry face... and just as he was about to walk away, he paused and looked as if he was deep in thought and then he came back, told ah yee, "You naughty boy... Ni! Mian bi si guo!" (You naughty boy.. you should face the wall and do a time out) And then he pulled and tugged at Ah Yee's arm and insisted that she had to go over to the wall to 'mian bi si guo' (loosely translated, tat is a chinese phrase tat means "facing the wall while you ponder over your mistakes"

I laughed until I was rolling on the floor...

These incidents furthur made me agree with what Arthur said about association... you really become who you associate with..

Because of this, we had another important criteria when it came to a choice of school for Ace. I told Max I wanted a school where the teachers had good attitude because I am sure Ace will emulate them.. and no matter how I thought about it, I feel that my mum's school is the best cos the teachers are all very dedicated and have great attitude... so now we are waiting for a place there ;)

Friday, June 20, 2008

For the first time in 3 years, Ace fell really sick.. dunno whether it is because of the weather or is it because of virus or watever reason.. Ace fell really sick.. he was running a high fever and was coughing and having a running nose..

And boy was it tough... day in and day out, had to take care of him, towel him to wet him.... and he perpetually wants to sleep...

I must say tat Ace is really a good boy.. most children in this situation would be crying and whining and making a big fuss but all Ace does is that he comes to me and tells me, "Mummy, can you rock rock please? I want to sleep..." And if I stop, he wakes up.. so I spend alot of time rocking him to sleep...

By the second and third day, he was coughing so badly that if he drank water or milk, he would vomit it out as he coughed...

And I must say this baby falls sick with style...

First when he sleeps, he can even sleep talk and ask me, "Shi shen me lai de..." And continues to sleep...

And because his dad told him that if he recovers, we will bring him to mac donalds and bring him to the playground, midway through one of his naps he woke up crying and asked me, "Wo yao qu gai gai.. where is my shoe, where is my shoe?"

And then when he is awake and his daddy calls him to ask him how he is.. the first thing he says is "Mac donald, playground.."

The best one took place while we were watching Hanna's Hotline on TV. He was singing the song... "Moo baa, double duck double duck..." and then he vomited *vomits* and after that he continues "Moo baa, double duck double duck..." and he just continued singing as if nothing happened...

Thursday, June 19, 2008

When he goes out, he wants to run towards other children and stand among them or play with them. Irregardless of whether it is a trip to the departmental store, shopping mall or the zoo, he would want to go near other children whether they like it or not. And sometimes he will just run away from us to join them even if we were going in the opposite direction...

His typical idea of playing is running around the whole place.. LIKE THIS:

The other day we brought him along to the airport to pick up waipo and ah yee and he was basically running around the whole airport to look for friends to play with. Every new boy or girl he saw is a friend and then they will automatically run around and play hide and seek until the other person started coughing due to running too much, and then i had to stop Ace and bring him away and then he goes in search of a NEW FRIEND!

Then when he goes for his shichida, midway throughout his lessons, he went to the door and wanted to open the door.. "Where do you want to go, Ace?"

"I want to play with friend.." He doesn't even know who is standing outside.. everyone is a friend!

Here are some new friends he made :)

But the good thing that came out of this is that we are sending him to school and it is easy to convince him to go to school because he is soooooooo ready go and mingle with MORE NEW FRIENDS!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Here are pictures of Ace with his angry face and his happy face after tat... haha ;)

Cute as the picture might look though, I have discovered that when you are really angry and ask him to say sorry and he still asks you, "Why are you so angry?" as he cries, it can really get on one's nerves...

So I am starting to remind him that he should say he is "Sorry" first then ask why other people are angry...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

You know, when children reach 3 years old, they go into a "why" age... everything that happens, your children will ask you, "WHY?" and drive you crazy.. hahaha..

My son has decided to be different and drive me crazy in another way...

He has started the "Shi shen me lai de? What is this? Who is this?" mantra which he repeats every day. Everything he sees, he asks me, "What is this?" And 5 seconds later, he points to the same thing and asks me the same question again.

The other day, he was having high fever and when I finally rocked him to sleep.. midway through his sleep, he was still asking, "Shi shen me lai de?" in his dreams

I dunno whether to laugh or cry... hahaha...

I think the toughest part is to answer him.. especially when you do not know what he is pointing to.. and it is toughest when he keeps pointing to the same thing and I have to try to reinvent a new answer everytime so as to input more new things into his brain.

Lately, this phase has sort of passed...

"What is this?" has been replaced by, "Where is Daddy?"

The other day, we were coming home after his right brain training and because max went to take part in a cycling competition, he couldnt pick us up. So the whole way... every 5 steps we took, he would ask me, "Where is the papa?"

And then I got fedup after he asked me 10 times and asked him, "Where is papa?" And then he will reply to me the reply that I gave him.

But still he asked, "Where is the Papa?"

After 30 times... I got fed up and told him, "Ace, can you stop asking the same questions again and again.. I already told you a 100 times where Papa is..."

I told Ah Yee the story and she said, "Scully Ace reply, "Where got 100 times? You think I dunno how to count ah.. one, two, three..."

The other day, when I was making milk for him while Max was bathing, he started the "Where is papa?" game again and asked me consecutively 10 times where is his dad at5 second intervals. I got fed up and told him, "Ace, can you stop asking the question so many times? It makes me feel very irritated.."

And then I thought about it and decided that was not a very good instruction for him.. and so when I brought him into the room to drink his milk, I told him, "Ace, when you ask questions, you need to listen to the answer.... If you do not understand the answer, or cannot hear clearly.. you can ask again... you can always ask and ask again until you get an answer that you understand... But a simple question like Where Is Daddy... I have given you a simple understand.. do you hear it? Do you understand it? If you can hear me and can understand me, there is no need to ask again and again... ok? Because when you do that, i get really irritated..."

"Ok.." And he stopped doing that for a while...

But I suspect though that he is doing it because he misses his Dad... for some unknown reason, Max has been really bz... and so hasnt been able to spend much time with Ace.. I sometimes even feel as if he does not want to spend time with Ace.. like he made himself bz so that he doesn't need to spend time with Ace... I especially felt this way when ace was sick over the weekend... Perhaps it is the sacrifice or the fusion.. I am not sure.. when I asked him, he says he is not sure wat it is either...

I guess Ace just wanted some TLC and some attention.. so it kind of turned into a vicious cycle.... the more Ace craved for attention, the more Max became independent... They say tat children are a reflection of our sub concsious mind.. maybe it is my neediness tat is making Max run away.. Hiaks ;)

Monday, June 16, 2008

We finally shifted back home.. well, sort of anyway ;) We are at least sleeping in our own homes.. just tat every morning bright and early, we wake, dun brush our teeth, dun bath (unless Ace shits) and we just travel to Waipo's house and continue sleeping there... HAHA...

Well, I think it is probably a good time to shift home lah.. so the transition was quite seamless.

It started off with my mum travelling to vietnam for a tour with her colleagues... so we had to be at home to take care of Ace for a few consecutive nights... then I decided that I should get Ace to get used to our house since he has not visited the place since we left about a year and a half ago.. I don't even know if he remembers the place or not...

So we started by telling him that the house we are staying in right now is Popo's house... Actually, we have our own house.. it is Ace's house... It is Daddy, Mummy and Ace's house.. it is our house.. and in the house, Ace has his own room and his own bed... "Do you like that?" I asked him.

"Yes!" he replied enthusiastically because he just happened to be at the age where he likes to exert ownership by telling everyone that "This is MINE!"

So we brought him home for two consecutive nights.

And boy did he like that place! The moment he reached the place, he sat down on our tatami and asked me to go away while he watched TV...

Then he started jumping around and searching for new toys to play with... Because all the toys at home are foreign to him (since he hasn't seen them for about a year and a half), he got really excited...

And after that, he kept asking us, "Ni yao hui wo de jia ma?" (Do you want to go home?") "Ni yao wan wo de toys ma?" (Do you want to play with my toys?) Which meant that he missed the house because he loved playing with the toys there..

And of cos, he was impressed that he had his own bed and he kept telling me "Ace de chuang..." (Ace's bed) and sitting on it, lying on it... he was just so happy he started to shake his bum ;)

The next step, we tell him that he is a big boy and since he has HIS own bed, he should sleep in HIS room... PHEW! The idea was a great hit with him..

And then we asked him if he wanted to sleep there and he said ok... so we asked him if it was ok if there is no milk.. "Ok.." he replied.. but he kept asking for "air con!" so I told him that the air conditioning unit in his room is spoilt..

Even though for the first 3 days we were sleeping there, he slept in strange positions, took a long time to fall asleep and woke up in the middle of the night to cry, he would fall straight back into sleep when we hugged him and patted him.

So now, Ace is officially a big boy who can sleep on his own bed and finally, me and Max can sleep together! Hehehe... feels good to be able to sleep with max without someone in between us.. even if the someone is our son ;)

Anyway, we had a mini house warming by inviting Stanley and Clari to our house for dinner.. for my famous vegeterian bak kut teh soup ;)

Now, all I need is to get my water heater fixed and I am good to stay at home for good! Only thing is that I would have to give up the luxury of having time to do my own things...

BUT.. dun worry, cos I am searching for a school for Ace now.. soon...sooon I will have freedom! Yeah!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

My teacher Jeff Allen said that we should always treat children like our best friends. "If you are not feeling ok, let them know... no matter how young they are, they can understand that..."

Recently, I have not been feeling too good....Something happened in my life and it resulted in a series of departures, betrayals, disappointments, war, pain... It's like deja vu all over again...

Ok, there is nothing wrong between me and Max.. rest assured ;) Let's just say it is not a marriage issue...

The end result was that I end up spending alot of time at home with Ace. All these pent up emotions were all also suppressed inside me. Didn't help that for some unknown reason, my son has gotten into a whiney stage where he would keep saying, "mummy.. mummy... mummy..." and keep asking where is his daddy like one thousand times a day... And when he doesn't get his way, he cries or whines....

It is like everyday when he wakes, he only has one mission... TO OPEN HIS MOUTH... and it is either to eat, sing or whine... I am ok with eating and sometimes when i need peace and quiet, not so ok with the singing. The one I really cannot stand is the whining...

Max told me the other day that he noticed that I have been shouting at Ace alot lately.

"Aiyoh, dun need to defend yourself lah.. I am not saying you are not good, I am just telling you my observation..." he said.

I was really angry when I heard that.. I was so angry I contemplated not talking to Max.

Firstly, I felt like i was attacked... and then the ego voice in me said, "You can scream and shout at Ace as and when you like it and I cannot is it? Everything you can do to Ace, you can slap him, and shout at him loudly, threaten him.. I cannot is it??? Just who are you to say tat about me?"

But thankfully, my higher mind asked me, "What are you so upset about? If you do not think the observation is true, then dun need to be angry mah.. Barney also say, learn from your mistakes.. just do better lah..." And so instead of staying angry at Max, I just reflected on what I could do better and somehow, after this reminder from Max, I discovered myself becoming more patient the next day..

Maybe it is a compensation.. I don't know.. I apologized to Ace and he was cool and he hugged me and told me, "I love you!"... anyway, I think my best friend, Ace understands lah.. Thanks, Ace, Thanks Max!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Until Ace came and ask me, "Mummy, where is my apple? I want to mmmm...."

Gosh, this structure that is made up of some paper boxes and some stools is actually supposed to be a GIGANTIC JUICER like the Phillips juicer we have at Waipo's house... (Note, those magazines inside the stool were supposed to be fruits and vegetables)Hahaha.. bet you din manage to guess that, right?

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Because Ace has started to learn how to pee in the toilet and is able to tell us when he wants to go to toilet, we thought the next step in his training would be for him to learn to wear underwear so that when he wears pants like jeans and all that, he would feel comfortable.

So we brought him to Mothercare to choose the set of underwear that he liked and he picked out this set in colours red, blue and grey... which has ships and other transport vehicles on it.

When we reached home, I asked him to pick one out to try the size and he picked the red one.. just like Superman...

And the moment he put it on.. he started laughing... and started saying, "That is my bathroom, check out my matching pipes.." together with the action...

And suddenly for no reason, he ran to the cupboard and shook his bons bons and told me, "Wo xue net net..." That is cos when Stanley and Clari got married, one of the things tat the jie meis made the groom and his xiong di do is to put on paper underwear.. and just to take a nice picture, the photog made all of them stand in a row with their buttocks facing out...

From then on, Ace would shake his bum and tell me, "Wo xue net net leh..."

Monday, June 09, 2008

Yes, I know Ace birthday is still some time away.. but he is already asking for presents from us all the time.

Nowadays, instead of just walking around, he will see things and tell me, "Mummy, I want this..I want that..." The lucky thing is that when I say No and explain to him why not he will say, "ok.." and walk away from the toy instead of throwing a tantrum and rolling around on the floor of the departmental store.

The other day, Ah Yee's Isetan Card newsletter came in and Waipo was flipping through... the moment Ace saw this series of colourful pots and pans, he fell in love with them and told waipo.. "Waipo, I want.. I want.. I want to chao chao chao.. I want to chao mian..."

The next day when I came over to my mum's place, Waipo passed the newsletter to Ace.. "Go and show mummy which is the toy that you want..." And Ace came and pointed to the same set of pots and pans and told me, "Wo yao.. mummy.. wo yao chao chao chao..."

It was $29 for a set.. and the original price was $99.. so I was wondering if it was lifesized and if you can really cook with it.

"Why dun you buy for him for his birthday this year?" I asked Waipo...

And so Waipo did ;)

Turned out though that it was a very small set and it was all plastic.. can put cooked food in it but cannot use it to cook...

"Hiyo, if I had seen it (Waipo asked Ah Yee to buy on her behalf), I think I wouldnt have bought it lah.. almost $30 leh.. just like tat..." said Waipo..

But I guess she was made to feel better later when she realized how much fun Ace was having with it and how much Ace loved his present..

For the first few days, Ace was so happy with it he wanted to eat out of his pots and pans.. haha ;)

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Remember how I said that if you gave Ace a box, he could be happy for a week.

THIS box made him happy for 3 days. :)

Sometimes it is a skirt. Sometimes it is a house... sometimes it is a luggage holder when he is at the airport.. sometimes it is the aeroplane itself.. and sometimes it is a cave...

Sometimes it is just a special hiding place where he will hide himself as he waited for me or Max to ask, "Oh dear, Ace disappeared.. where is Ace? Where is Ace?" And he will jump out like a jack in the box and say, "deng deng deng deng!"

It made me happy to see him this happy as well..

So if you have any extra boxes, dun throw them away.. DONATE THEM TO ME! Hahaha...

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

When the TV is on, he will try to copy their actions. The other day during the fund raising show for the sichuan victims, he imitated and copied their crying and kenna a scolding from me. Of course, I did explain to him why he should not imitate them and explained that in such a case, he should be sending love to them...

Sometimes he will exasperate you by doing something disgusting like digging his nose. Then he will run to you and tell you, "Wo orh pi sai... wo xue ni leh..." cos I think he caught me cleaning my stuck nose.

Or he will do the cheeky dance that Gerald, his cousin taught him and tell you, "Wo xue gor gor.."

Sometimes if he is watching some chinese period drama, he will even copy and follow the actions down to the evil laughter of the evil protagonist and how they fall down and go "ah.. ah ah.." before they die...

I dunno whether to laugh or cry.

The other day my mum was trying to make some vietnamese poh piah and when Ace saw the vege that Yeye use to feed his tortoises, he opened his mouth wide and started nibbling at the vegetables...

"Oi, eat properly lah, Ace..." I told him.

"Wo xue gui gui leh.." he told me... *grrrr* just wat do you say to that???

Sunday, June 01, 2008

When I was still single, I remembered a friend telling me that it is an absolute waste of money to buy toys for children because they are only interested in it for 30 min and then they get tired of it already.... He ended up having a whole storeroom of toys and a son who never seems to feel he has enough toys...

Therefore, when I became a parent, I decided that I would really be prudent when it comes to selecting toys.. must make sure they are safe, make sure they last and is something tat can be played in different ways and must be VALUE FOR MONEY! ;)

Because of the fact that both me and Max's parents are good at keeping things, bulk of our toys can now be handed over to Ace... because of this, Ace has some toys at home, some toys in popo's house and some toys in Yeye's house....

Recently, we have started to go home to sleep... and we started by enticing Ace to go back home to play... he was so intrigued by all the toys there that he has not seen for a long time that he kept asking to go home and play with his toys...

Yet, in a short while, he gets tired of all the toys and soon, he kind of runs out of toys to play with and starts to bother me..

"Hai.. so many toys but he runs out of things to play with so fast.. "I complained to my mother.

"Hiya, no need to buy toys for him lah... just wait till he discovers all the 'fun' things he can play with at home. Just give him some boxes and all that and he will be happy for a week already..." said my mother.

True enough.. when I think back and looked at the photos I took, Ace was really spending most of his time playing with things in the house than his toys.. hahaha...

here's the PROOF!Pillow case also can act as jumping sack...Coat and Jacket cover can act as a JACKET!His favourite is this Magic Clean mop that can act as a microphone, a vacum cleaner, a fire engine hose (when he dismantles it)And of course, just a regular mop! He played with this item for one full week before he got tired of it! hahaha.... That is probably more cost effecient than a toy that might cost double the price and capture his interest for only 30 min ;)

So my conclusion: you don't need to buy toys for your kids. Just take up some useless stuff lying around the house and let them explore.. they will have much more fun with them! ;)